


Familiar

by writerposer



Category: Arthurian Mythology & Related Fandoms, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Modern Era, Secret Relationship, They're both 18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:27:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24809266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerposer/pseuds/writerposer
Summary: When Hunith forces Merlin to move to Camelot until he can get his magic under control, he gets guilted into bringing Will's cat with him. Little does he know that the kitten is in fact his familiar, sent to protect and guide him. And Merlin's gonna need all the help he can get if he's going to survive in Camelot High School, especially when he has to contend with the frustratingly handsome, Grade A asshole Arthur Pendragon.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 156





	1. Chapter 1

“No, Will, I can’t take your stupid cat.” 

The first time Merlin shut the door on Will, he had felt a certain degree of regret. A twinge of remorse. The first few times he had to reject the small tabby, he even apologized. As it stood, this was the third time he had to say no to the little mongrel just this morning. And the tenth time this week. This was the fourth time he had to physically shut Will out of his home. So Merlin tried to put extra oomph in slamming the door this time. 

Two weeks ago, Will had found the pathetic lump of fur on the side of the road, while he and Merlin were biking home from work in what seemed to be Poseidon’s final attempt to drag down their little isle back into his domain. Merlin was a good quarter mile ahead, eager to leave the muck of the golf course behind when he noticed Will wasn’t panting alongside him. Panic welled in his chest when he turned around and saw Will sprawled on the ground, while the rainwater parted around him on its journey to the gutter. 

“If he slipped in this and fell onto the concrete at this speed, he could be bleeding out by now. How do you heal head wounds? Will he get hypothermia from this weather? Can I carry him on my own?” Merlin’s panicked thoughts streamed through his mind. “Will my magic be enough to save him?”

As if the thought alone opened up the floodgates, he felt the static shocks in his arm veins that preceded accidental magic. The water underneath his bike tires began to steam, the heat licking at his ankles. Merlin shook out his ankles, the warmth curing his temporary paralysis.

Merlin wheeled around, skidding to a messy stop right in front of Will. His heart was beating double time, as he looked at his best friend’s hunched form. He threw his bike down, ignoring the hiss of evaporating water, barely audible under the roar of the storm. And when Will looked up, unharmed, sheltering the black shivering kitten, Merlin could have cried in relief if he had a little bit of self respect. Instead his bladder decided the best way to express gratitude to the universe and the gods that his best friend wasn’t dying in a ditch was to release itself.

“C’mon Merls, it’s practically your cat too! You pissed yourself with joy when you met!” Will whined through the shut door. 

“I was happy you weren’t on your deathbed, you idiot!” Merlin shouted back, his face beginning to flush. 

“How about you treat her as something to remember me by? After you’ve fucked off and moved to the big city?”

There it was. The real reason Will had spent the last two months of summer whining. 

It wasn’t as if Merlin was moving to Camelot of his own volition. Hunith had been badgering him to move in with his uncle Gaius ever since he managed to pop all the balloons at his tenth birthday party while blowing out his candles. After every floating bed sheet, every frog-filled sink, every exploding toilet, Hunith brings up the move again. If Hunith lost her keys, she brought up Camelot. 

And every time Merlin managed to say no. He felt he held at least a modicum of control over his body and his magic, even as he grew older and his power grew with him. Until this past May. 

Merlin tried to blame it on math. Chemistry, fine. English, fine. Math, Satan's special gift for mankind. When he walked into the cramped auditorium to take his final exam, he knew he already knew he was screwed. The question was to what degree. 

When he sat down at his section, his gangly limbs forcing his legs to be shoved up against the back of some poor girl’s seat, and flipped through the booklet, he felt his chances of passing slipping away. Ok, letters in math, fine, do what you will. But at least have the decency to keep it to the Roman alphabet. The floating Greek symbols jumbled around in Merlin’s head, as he flipped from problem to problem, trying to find one that he could at least start. Merlin shoved his face into his hands, and suppressed the urge to cry as his throat constricted. 

And then the sprinklers turned on. Relief washed over Merlin as he pushed his now soaked hair out of his eyes, and saw the ruined test paper in front of him. He heard Will shout “Hallelujah” somewhere behind him. A mousy substitute with fly-away hair began scurrying around, trying to collect test booklets before the integrity of the sopping wet tests was compromised. Merlin slowly gathered up his things, when a groan echoed from above him. Merlin snapped his head up, just in time to watch a water pipe burst through the ceiling, rapidly pouring gallons and gallons of water onto the base of the auditorium. Merlin and his fellow classmates watched, shell shocked, as more pipes burst in quick succession. 

When Merlin felt the water lap at his ankles, he willed himself to move. He artlessly hopped himself over the wooden seats, trying to reach the doorway. Unfortunately, Merlin’s movements appeared to break the stillness of the room, and soon everyone was pushing towards the doorways. 

By the time Merlin fought his way down the middle aisle, the water licked his upper calves. He sloshed to the tiny stage, and climbed up while his classmates waded to the doors, and held his arms to the sky, willing the pipes dry. Instead, with several loud successive pops, the heads burst off the sprinklers, and the water managed to fall at an even more rapid pace than before.

“Shit shit shit shit shit,” Merlin whispered to himself as the water reached the height of the stage. He stood on his tip toes, and watched as the students vainly tried to push through each other to exit the auditorium. Those rusted hinges always needed a fair amount of elbow grease, and his panicked classmates could barely muster up the traction in the now chest high water. 

“Everybody on stage!” Merlin shouted, but he was drowned out by the waterfall. 

Merlin whirled around, looking for something, anything to save the situation. At the back of the auditorium he spotted an ancient red and green fire axe. He dove off the stage into the water. Swimming was more efficient than walking by this point, so Merlin valiantly performed his most desperate impersonation of a salmon and beat his way uphill to the back of the auditorium. He wrenched open the metal box, setting off the alarm right next to his ear. 

“Fuck off,” Merlin shouted at the system before turning around. 

He flopped back into the water, swimming his way down the auditorium one handedly, brandishing his axe with the other. By the time he made it to the door, many students had finally taken refuge on stage. Merlin tread water above the doorframe. 

“Fuck it,” Merlin took a giant breath, and dived. 

Merlin held the door handle tightly, trying to anchor himself, and took a semi blind swing at the hinge. The axe made no contact, and Merlin tried to curse underwater but that just let the putrid water into his lungs. Merlin closed his eyes so he could ignore the black spots clouding his vision, and took another swing. The bottom rusty hinge thankfully fell off at the first hefty swing. 

Merlin made a quick prayer to the sprinkler gods, ignored the screams filtering down to his ears, and swung blindly. His axe struck the top hinge, and the old door burst outwards. Merlin was sucked into the hall with the door. 

Merlin gripped his chest as he looked back out at Will, remembering how he vomited water for a good hour after the ordeal. That was the final straw. The minute Hunith saw Merlin’s sopping clothes, she picked up the phone for Gaius. And that was that. Goodbye Ealdor. 

“I’m sorry, I’m moving, and I’m sorry your grandmother is allergic to that monstrosity-”

“Steven,” 

“What?”

“His name’s Steven, Steve for shirt,” Will interjected. 

“I don’t care what the stupid furball’s name is, I am not taking him with me!” Merlin shouted. 

Steven meowed for the entire train journey, which didn’t suit Merlin at all. Apparently animals did not enjoy being stuffed into small boxes, stuck inside larger boxes, hurtling at incredibly fast speeds. Who knew. 

Gaius was waiting for him at the station in a Mini Cooper of all things. They had to pile Merlin’s suitcases on the roof, shove a very angry Steven in the back, and Merlin cramped his legs to slide in. Merlin tried to hide his simmering annoyance from his uncle. It wasn’t his fault that Merlin was a fuck up who couldn’t control his magic.

They dodged city traffic until they made it to Gaius’ home, well Merlin’s home now, on the outskirts of the city. They pulled up to the little cottage, and Merlin hauled in his stuff, letting Steven out in the living room, before collapsing on the couch. Gaius took a quiet seat next to him.

“Now, I know you’re not thrilled to have to live with an old fart like me,” Gaius started. 

“It’s not you Gaius. I can’t thank you enough for taking me in, and I’m really grateful and stuff, and-”

Gaius raised a hand to stop Merlin’s rambling. “You don’t have to pretend that you’re happy with this arrangement. I just hope that I can help you get your magic under control.”

“It’s going to be so hard to start over-”

“And I know the headmaster of your new school personally. Uther Pendragon is a hard man, but he’s agreed to give you a full scholarship if you keep your grades up.”

  
  


Merlin nodded, “I won’t let you down Gaius.” Suddenly, Steven jumped into Merlin’s lap, and curled himself up, purring loudly. 

Maybe everything would be ok. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin's first day doesn't go as planned

Merlin ran gel through his hair over and over, but still couldn’t get his hair to lie flat. 

“Any more product and I'll catch fire,” Merlin thought. He looked himself up and down, and grimaced at his ill-fitting clothing. At some point over the summer his body decided it was a good idea to sprout six more inches, and suddenly none of his clothes fit like they were supposed to. Gaius claimed it was his “magic maturing” but Merlin could give a rats ass about that right now, when he was forced to wear Gaius’ giant tunics just to avoid exposing his midriff like he was the star of a 2000s movie. 

“Merlin, if you don’t leave this house this very instant, you’ll be late!” Gaius roared up the stairs. 

Merlin looked back in the mirror, gave up the faintest hope of attempting to be presentable, and was soon bounding out the house. He caught the city bus just as it was pulling away-- apparently this school was too fancy for a school bus, so Merlin had to catch public transport and then walk for twenty minutes into the grounds which lay in the heart of the city. When Merlin arrived at the ornate gates of Pendragon Academy, Merlin let out a low whistle. As he was admiring the scenery, a Land Rover whipped around the corner and nearly ran him over. Merlin jumped out of the way just in time, only seeing a mop of blonde hair behind the driver’s seat. 

“Asshole,” Merlin mumbled, dusting himself off and picking up his fallen things. It was only then that he caught a look at his phone and realized he was about sixty seconds away from missing the senior orientation assembly. Merlin gathered his things and sprinted toward the steps. He flung himself through the double doors, only to run head first into what felt like a fleshy tree trunk. 

For the second time in as many minutes Merlin felt his butt hit the ground. Then the blonde tree trunk had the audacity to turn and glare at him. 

“Watch it!” sneered the tree trunk, who was looking more and more like an annoyed teenage boy, before looking Merlin up and down and saying, “You’re new, aren’t you.”

Merlin struggled to his legs, “Yeah, and where I'm from we don’t run people over and then block hallways like a, like a dumbass.” Shit, that was smoother in his head. 

The boy huffed and rolled his eyes, and then began walking down the hall. Apparently Merlin was no longer worth his time. Merlin figured he was heading to the assembly, and seeing as Merlin didn’t actually know where the auditorium was, he tried to follow as closely as possible without rear ending the jerk, again. 

The boy slipped into a pair of double doors without holding them, so Merlin was forced to open it again himself. He hoped he could go unnoticed, but as soon as he saw the rows of students, blonde asshole somewhere amidst them, he was frozen, couldn’t pick a seat. 

He was loitering in the doorway for so long that the severe looking man at the podium ceased droning about the new lunch menu or whateverthefuck, and cleared his throat, eyes narrowing on Merlin. 

“Ah, class, please welcome your newest, tardy, classmate. Merlin Emrys,” the man said, his voice dry as a bone. 

Merlin did an awkward wave as a hundred faces turned and stared him down. 

“Please Merlin, we have an assembly to run. Find a seat,” the man, presumably Uther, said, and Merlin scanned the room, all the empty seats taking turns hiding from him. He was just about to give up his search and melt into the floor, when he caught a waving hand, somewhere in the third row. Merlin followed it, praying “don’t trip, don’t trip, don’t trip,” until he found himself sitting next to a pretty Black girl with a warm smile. 

“Gwen,” she whispered, extending a hand. 

“Merlin, new kid,” Merlin whispered back, settling into his seat. 

He tried to listen to Uther more-- he didn’t know shit about this school, but he got distracted when he caught Blondey McTreetrunk glaring at him from a few rows ahead.

“God, what is that prick’s problem?” Merlin whispered to Gwen, who suddenly looked withdrawn. 

“Oh, Arthur? He’s, he’s not so bad when you get to know him,” she mumbled. 

“First he almost hits me with his stupid prick car, and then he trips me in the hallway,” Merlin whispered back, “And now he’s glaring at me?”

“I don’t think it’s you he’s glaring at,” Gwen whispered back, eyes still downcast. 

Arthur was still glaring, and Merlin glared back, suddenly angry. What could he have against this sweet girl? 

“Arthur Pendragon, if you would be so kind as to face forward when I am addressing you and your classmates,” Uther boomed.

Arthur whipped back around, and put his head down, as a giggle swept through the room. 

“That’s his father?” Merlin whispered, and Gwen nodded, tight lipped. 

“Maybe I’d be a dickhead too,” Merlin thought. 

Merlin’s sympathy for Arthur was short-lived. As soon as Uther dismissed the group, Merlin headed out the auditorium with Gwen, only to find Arthur waiting for him, flanked by boys wearing identical football kits.

“Picking up strays are we, Gwen?” Arthur smirked.

“Leave her alone asshole,” Merlin shot back. 

“No one was speaking to you,” Arthur said, before returning to Gwen, “Can’t find anyone else in our year who can stand you, can you?”

Gwen looked like she was about to cry. Arthur didn’t look violent, but Merlin pushed his way between the two of them anyway, and stuck his finger in his chest. 

“Just because your name’s on the building doesn’t give you the right to to act like you’re a fucking prince who can stomp on whomever you like,” Merlin said. 

The bell had rung, but Merlin noticed that they were starting to attract a crowd, everyone gawking at the new kid. 

“Well, I’m not the one dressed like a peasant,” Arthur sneered, and Merlin heard the tittering from the crowd as they appraised Merlin drowning in Gaius’ giant tunic. 

“Merlin let’s just get out of here,” Gwen said, pushing outside the circle of people. If Merlin were smart he would have followed her immediately. But Merlin had never been terribly clever. 

He stuck his finger in Arthur’s face again, “You’re nothing but a self absorbed bully who’s hiding behind his daddy’s name and a stupid jersey.” 

Merlin dodged the first punch, and dodged the second, but his magic decided he was in danger and so when he tried to dodge the third, he felt his magic push out and knock Arthur back. Arthur stumbled, and looked confused for a second, before lunging forward at Merlin. The crowd had formed a tight ring around the two of them now, and was buzzing with excitement, all but chanting “Fight!”

Merlin tried to calm down, the last thing he needed was to freak out and hurt anybody, but it was hard to focus when Arthur just kept coming at him relentlessly. 

“Now would be a great time for a flood,” Merlin thought, as he dodged Arthur’s clumsy charge once more. 

“What is going on here!” A voice boomed through the crowd. The students scattered as Uther stepped into the circle. Arthur froze, hands still up as his father stared him down. 

“Detention. One week. Afterschool,” Uther growled, and Arthur looked down, ashamed. 

One of the few students remaining, one of Arthur’s football buddies, piped up, “But, sir, our first home game is tonight! We need Arthur on the field!” 

“Well Gwaine, Arthur should have thought about that before he tried to roughhouse on my grounds,” Uther said, not taking his eyes off of his son. 

“And you,” Uther turned his gaze on Merlin, “Off to a rough start already. You will also share Arthur’s one week detention. Any more trouble, and we’ll have to revisit the terms of your scholarship. Now off to class.”

Uther strode away, leaving just Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin. Arthur turned to Merlin and puffed up to say something, but Gwaine just put his hand on his shoulder and led the boy away. Merlin shook his head, and tried to find his first class. 

The morning went on largely without incident. Merlin ended up having three of his classes with Arthur, who did nothing but glare at him, but at least Gwen was there too, so he had someone to sit with. 

Before he knew it, the final bell rang and Merlin trudged himself to detention. A severe looking woman eyed him as he signed his name in, and he leaned back in his chair. 

“No books, no electronics, no talking,” she said, pointing to the same words written on the blackboard.

A few seconds later Arthur strode in like an angry cloud. 

“Arthur! I am shocked to see you here,” the woman said. 

“Sorry Mrs. Smith,” Arthur grumbled, signing himself in. He sat on the other side of the classroom from Merlin, upgrading from glaring at Merlin to steadfastly ignoring him. 

The hour ticked on interminably. Merlin stared out the window, barely making out the rolling fields of Pendragon academy’s grounds, when he saw something that made him gasp. Because there, in the window, was Steven.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin did a double take, checked to see if anyone noticed, and then looked back at the window, where his cat was plaintively looking at him, seemingly calm as a cucumber outside the third floor window. 

There was one other person in detention, Freya something, who was dozing lightly in the back. Arthur was still glowering at the ceiling, and it seemed as if Mrs. Smith was asleep. Merlin tried to think of some sort of distraction to let the cat in, when the lights cut out. Everyone started, and Merlin used the quick confusion to crack the window open, Steven quietly slipping in and wrapping around his feet. 

Merlin wasn’t sure if his magic was to blame, but he thanked it regardless when Mrs. Smith sternly told the students to remain in the room, before dashing outside to see what the trouble was. Arthur waited perhaps 20 seconds before quickly packing his stuff up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Freya said drowsily from the back. 

“If I run, I can make the second half,” Arthur said, and without looking back ran off, presumably in the direction of the pitch. 

Merlin rolled his eyes -- maybe the posh son of the headmaster can afford to skip out on detention, but Merlin wasn’t trying to get expelled on his first day. Merlin tried to sit back down, when Steven kept brushing against his leg. Merlin turned around and tried to surreptitiously gauge if Freya was still watching. She wasn’t, just staring at the ceiling. It would be hard to see the animal anyway-- with the lights cut out, and the rapidly darkening sky outside, the black cat blended into the room well. 

Merlin tried to push Steven off, but soon the cat began biting his ankles. Merlin yelped, grabbing Freya’s attention. 

“What was-- ?”

Thankfully at that moment a clap of thunder rocked the building. 

“Oh, I’m afraid of storms,” Merlin said, and he let out another yelp as Steven bit his ankles again. 

Freya nodded, and zoned out again seemingly oblivious to the storm. Merlin reminded himself to ask her about whatever she was on, but Steven was outright pulling at his pants and hissing at him. Merlin stood up, if only to try and maneuver his limbs away from Steven’s stupidly sharp teeth and definitely  _ not  _ to kick the dumb furball. As soon as Merlin got up, Steven bolted for the door. 

“Oh shit,” Merlin yelped, and chased after the stupid animal. 

Merlin tore his way through the thankfully deserted hallways. Every few hundred yards, or around corners, Steven would stop and look over his shoulder, as if he was trying to make sure Merlin was following. 

“How the fuck did he find me anyway?” Merlin thought, as he ran around yet another hallway. Soon he found himself in front of the heavy double doors that led out to the football field. Steven was pushing his body against the door and caterwauling  _ loudly _ . Against his better judgement, Merlin opened the door, and Steven immediately bolted into the pouring rain. Merlin swallowed and followed the black streak out to the stands. Despite the storm, the stands were still packed, and the rolling thunder mixed with their cheers. 

A glance at the scoreboard told Merlin that the imaginatively named “Knights” were one goal behind their rival team, the always intimidating “Badgers,” which is probably why the fans were weathering the continued downpour. Merlin kept chasing Steven until they were right by the bench where the reserve players were hugging their knees in an attempt to keep warm. Steven stopped on a dime, and Merlin nearly stepped on him in his haste, instead knocking into a blonde woman who was so wrapped up in the game she didn’t notice Merlin until his knees knocked with her. 

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Merlin scrambled to his feet, and then bent down to pick her up, but she swatted him away. 

At that moment, the a section of the menacing clouds broke, and Merlin swears that the newly freed sunrays  _ sensed _ Arthur’s need to make a dramatic entrance, because when Merlin looked up there was the stupid footballer just sprinting to the field cast in a beam of golden light. Merlin heard Steven hiss as the woman got back to her feet. The partition in the clouds stitched themselves shut, and the rain continued to beat against the earth. 

When another thunderclap rocked the field, Merlin had seen enough. He ran up to the referee. 

“You have to cancel the match!” he shouted over the pouring rain.

The man just waved Merlin off, eyes glazed over. Merlin through his hands up, and tried talking to the coach of the team, who outright ignored Merlin, entirely enrapt in the game.

“You need to call it off, look at the sky!” Merlin shouted.

“Why can’t you mind your business  _ Mer _ lin,” he heard Arthur sneer from behind him.

Merlin wheeled around, “Because I fucking have eyes. Look at the sky!” 

“A little rain can’t stop us!” Arthur said, but even he started to look a little worried. Arthur put his hands on his coach’s shoulder. 

“Coach, I’m here, let me sub in,” Arthur said. When the man ignored him, he raised his voice further, “Did you hear me?”

Merlin backed off to look for Steven, the stupid cat was missing again, no longer by the blonde woman. He couldn’t see the beast anywhere on the pitch, but just as he was going to give up and let the stupid creature drown, he heard a plaintive meow from underneath the stands.

“For fuck’s sake,” Merlin grumbled, and got on his hands and knees, and looked underneath the bleachers. Sure enough, there was Steven, poking at some great ugly mass of what looked like seaweed and twine. Merlin crawled forward, trying not to think about what would happen if anyone caught the freaky new kid under the bleachers. Last thing he needed was to be branded a pervert before the weekend. Just as Merlin reached Steven, and reached his hand out to grab him, the cat batted the sticky seaweed ball at him. The moment it touched his fingers Merlin felt a surge of something dark, something disgusting, hit him. He tried to crawl back and away from it, but Steven kept nudging it toward him, almost chasing him with it until they were back from out the stands. 

The storm had surged even more in his time underneath the stands. People were starting to pick up and leave, but the players were still fighting their way through the deluge. 

_ CRACK! _

Merlin saw the goal in flames before he processed that it had been struck by lightning. The goalie looked back and let out a scream, tearing away from his post. 

_ CRACK! _

More lighting struck the field, and the players began to scramble, trying to find shelter. The stands were mayhem as people screamed and tried to get over each other. The crowd was so thick around him that Merlin couldn’t even find his way to stand up, and Steven kept nudging that stupid ugly ball into his hands. 

“Fine!” 

Merlin picked up the ball, and felt the same surge of ugly energy go through him. For a second he felt the storm around him get worse, and more lighting began to strike randomly. Then he felt Steven jump into his lap, and then suddenly the tide turned. He felt a new, sort of, golden energy, surge through him. Merlin rose to his feet, and Steven jumped up to his shoulder. He didn’t realize he was casting a spell until he saw the clouds part and the rain cease. All around him people grew still and gawked at the suddenly clear sky. Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin saw one figure, that same blonde woman he’d knocked down, running to the parking lot. Merlin tried to follow her, but his legs gave out, and her silver minivan was the last image he processed before he passed out, just behind the stands. 

He came to when he felt a rough hand touching his face. 

“Merlin.  _ Mer _ lin. Am I going to have to take you to the hospital?” he heard an exasperated voice say. 

Merlin blinked his eyes open and saw Arthur frowning down at him, a look of deep worry about him. 

“I’m fine, I'm fine,” Merlin said, sitting up. To his surprise, Steven was sitting on his lap, purring like a motorboat. 

Arthur sucked his lip into his teeth, and looked out at the now empty field. Spots of it still looked like they were smoldering, and Merlin could almost feel the electricity still crackling in the ground. Steven hopped off his lap and began licking himself next to the weird seaweed ball, somehow unfazed by what just occurred. 

“I’ll drive you home,” Arthur said, decisively. 

“Um, no thank you dickhead, I’ve seen the way you drive,” Merlin said, but when he tried to stand himself up, he was hit with such a big wave of dizziness that he would have collapsed if Arthur hadn’t stepped forward and caught him. 

“Alright fine, you win Sir Arthur,” Merlin grumbled, and let Arthur help him to his Land Rover. Steven followed and jumped into the open backseat, making himself very comfortable. 

Merlin gave Arthur the address to punch into the GPS, taking a private joy in knowing that the asshole would have to go so far out of his way to keep up this chivalry act, and then the two rode in silence for a while.

“You were right,” Arthur said after a while. 

“What?”

“About the game. It was too dangerous. You were right,” Arthur said. 

Merlin nodded, too exhausted to gloat properly. 

Arthur went on, “It was so weird though. Coach looked right through me, like I wasn’t even there. It was the weirdest shit I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh i’m sure you’re used to everybody’s undivided attention,” Merlin replied lazily. 

“That’s not what I meant-- you know what, forget it,” Arthur grumbled. 

Merlin felt a twinge of regret “The referee, he was acting strangely too. Wouldn’t even look at me.”

Arthur hummed, processing it all, and soon enough they were at Gaius’s. As soon as Merlin opened the door, Steven leapt out and bounded into the house. 

“You’ve got a weird cat dude,” Arthur shook his head as Merlin got out. 

“Trust me, he was not my choice,” Merlin replied, shutting the door behind him.

“Listen, are we cool?” Arthur leaned across the seat to meet Merlin’s eyes.

“I don’t know, are you gonna harass Gwen and try to attack me tomorrow?” Merlin sneered back. 

Arthur ducked his head, and if Merlin thought the guy was capable of shame, this is what it would look like. 

“I, I didn’t plan on that. I,” Arthur sat back up, cutting himself off, “I gotta go.”

Without another word, he sped off. Merlin watched him go and shook his head, before heading inside.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Merlin was prepared. You didn’t get raised by Hunith Emrys and not learn your way around a sewing machine. Instead of processing whatever the fuck went down on the field, or reading the massive mysterious book Gaius had left on his desk, Merlin took to altering Gaius’ shirts instead. 

“Nobody calls me a peasant,” Merlin grumbled, machine whirring. Steven sat up with him, sitting on the edge of his desk as he worked, watching impassively.

Exhausted, Merlin left late again the next morning, but at least his clothes fit. Before he left, Merlin double checked his windows, left a bowl of food and water for Steven in his room, and locked him inside. While Merlin couldn’t possibly fathom how Steven had made his way to Pendragon Academy, there would be no repeat journeys.

Merlin carefully trod the halls-- he didn’t put it past Uther to throw him into detention again for skipping out yesterday, or for Arthur to change his mind about their armistice.

When Merlin slipped into his first class, taking his seat next to Gwen, he was relieved when Arthur studiously avoided looking at them. Gwen seemed more visibly calm too. Merlin felt his anger at Arthur bubble up again-- what could he possibly have against someone as sweet as Gwen? He must be a dickhead, even if now he’s just a dickhead who learned to follow directions. 

“Did you hear about what happened at the game yesterday? I heard the whole field was on fire,” Gwen whispered as their teacher droned on about Hamlet or maybe Alexander Hamilton. 

“Yeah it was seriously something,” Merlin said, not wanting to give away too much. 

The more and more he thought about it, the weird blonde lady and that disgusting blob underneath the bleachers, there was no way what happened yesterday had just been a freak accident. Merlin thought that he and Uncle Gaius were the only magic users, well, ever, but seeing what happened yesterday quashed such well wishing. If whatever powers that be gave a gangly teen from the country awesome wizard powers, then they probably weren’t that discerning afterall. 

The rest of the morning went largely without incident. At lunch, Gwen showed Merlin pictures from the road trip she took with her boyfriend, Lance, before he went off to uni in another county.

“He tries to visit on weekends, but the distance is pretty tough,” Gwen whispered, “Sorry for going on and on about him, I just, I don’t have anyone else to talk to.”

Merlin shook his head, “I don’t get it Gwen. There must be something seriously fucked at this school if assholes like Arthur are on top just because they’ve got the right last name.”

He crunched on his apple, surveying the fancyass courtyard upperclassmen used for lunch, and spotted Freya sitting by herself next to the fountain, zoning out. 

“Well, that’s not the whole story-” Gwen started, but Merlin was already launching himself up and striding over to Freya. 

“Hey, do you wanna eat with us?” Merlin grinned down at her.

Freya seemed to blink awake, and process that she was in a courtyard full of people for the first time. 

“Yeah, sure man,” she said, gracefully rising to her feet and following him back to the stone table with Gwen. 

“Sorry I cut you off, what were you talking about Gwen?” Merlin asked. 

“Oh, nothing,” she said, and then extended a quick hand to Freya, “I know we’ve been at school together for so long, but I don’t think I’ve ever properly introduced myself. Gwen.”

Freya took Gwen’s hand warily, “Yeah, I know who you are. Since when did you stop hanging off Pendragon’s arm?” 

Merlin did a double take. 

“You and Arthur?” he said, only realizing he raised his voice when he noticed some heads whip around in his periphery. 

Gwen put her head down and nodded. 

“Arthur’s half-sister Morgana, she was my best friend, she still is, and so I was always around Arthur. At some point, we just sort of started going together, you know? It was easy, he was sweet, we got along well. But, everything went sideways when I met Lance. I just, well, I finally realized what love was supposed to feel like,” Gwen said.

Merlin nodded, “Just because you broke up with him doesn’t give Arthur the right to be a fucking tool.”

Gwen’s face fell even further. 

“I didn’t, well, I didn’t do it the right way. Things with Lance just happened so fast and I thought I’d have a chance to break things off cleanly, but then he just, he found out, and it was messy, and I’m a terrible person. I get if you don’t wanna be seen with me anymore,” Gwen looked back down. 

Merlin sighed, and Freya just looked on impassively. 

“That, well it wasn’t good,” Merlin said, “But I’m sure you tried to make it right.”

Gwen sighed, “I tried to. I even think Arthur might have forgiven me if all that other stuff didn’t go down at the end of last year.”

“The great Pendragon civil war,” Freya said drily, playing with her food.

“What happened?” Merlin asked.

“Well, and keep this to yourself,” Gwen started quietly, “Morgana, well she took my side in the breakup. Which didn’t win her any points at home. Uther never wanted Arthur to be with me in the first place, and I think Morgana used it to score some hits against her father.”

“And then one day in the spring, in the middle of an assembly, Morgana just like, goes crazy. She stands up and calls Uther a cheater in front of everybody, calling him out,” Freya said.

“No one at school knew that Morgana and Arthur were only half siblings. Uther was livid. Arthur was mortified,” Gwen said. 

“And Uther just like, fucking expels her on the spot,” Freya said.

“I think secretly she always wanted to leave. The selfish part of me wishes she were still here to help me out,” Gwen said, pointedly looking at the rugby players table. Though Arthur was studiously eating his lunch, two guys, Gwaine something and a big fella, were openly glaring at them. 

“Lance was a rival player at another school, so I managed to step on everything Arthur cared about,” Gwen said. 

“Shit,” Merlin said. 

“As much as they fought, Morgana was one of Arthur’s only allies against Uther at home. Now it’s just the two of them in that massive house. I can’t imagine how he must be feeling,” Gwen said quietly.

“You still love him,” Merlin said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I do. Just not the way a girlfriend should have. And I don’t think friendship is on the table anymore,” Gwen sighed.

Merlin nodded, and maybe a tiny part of him started to think that maybe Arthur wasn’t so terrible after all. Soon enough it was time to drift back inside, and Merlin threw his arm around Gwen. She made mistakes, but she was good to him, and hopefully he could be good to her too. 

The next period he had biology lab. With Arthur. Merlin, ever the masochist, decided to test their fragile peace by plopping down right next to him. Arthur startled, but merely nodded to acknowledge Merlin, before firmly facing front, concentrating extra hard on the anatomy lesson the teacher was trying to deliver. Merlin leaned back, anatomy being one subject he wasn’t completely shit at. He may not be able to control the magic coursing through his body, but he was just, so aware of it, that the science of the body just felt natural to him. And this teacher was so goddamn boring already, Merlin could barely cover his yawn, and just decided to go for the full stretch.

He caught Arthur looking at him again, out of the corner of his eye.

“What?” Merlin hissed.

Arthur blinked, like he hadn’t realized he’d been staring. “Your clothes. They're better today. You don’t look like you should be out harvesting potatoes in some field.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Does being an asshole come naturally, or do you have to work at it?”

“Well I hope everyone is enjoying their bench mate,” the teacher said, throwing a pointed look in Merlin’s direction, “As you will be lab partners for the rest of the quarter.”

Fuck. Of course. Merlin heard Arthur mutter something to the same effect but it was too late to get out of it. 

“For your first lab assignment, you will each get a fetal pig to dissect, and will turn in a ten page report by the end of the week,” the teacher said, while passing out styrofoam cartons.

Merlin experimentally cracked the lid off of theirs, and the sharp smell of formaldehyde hit his nose. 

“Gross,” Merlin said.

“Agreed. I think you can handle the dissection part,” Arthur said.

“Excuse me?” Merlin turned to glare at Arthur, “Last I checked we’re in this together.”

“I don’t see a reason for both of us to get our hands dirty,” Arthur said, scrunching his nose.

“And so I’m the one who has to touch this disgusting thing?” Merlin hissed, though he starts to sense movement out of the corner of his eye.

“You opened the box,” Arthur said, as if that meant anything.

“You entitled jackass,” Merlin growled. 

“Merlin,” Arthur said, blanching.

“Gwen told me what happened this summer-” Merlin said.

“Merlin, look-”

“-and she had me feeling so bad for you that I wanted to give you a chance but you take every opportunity to be a self interested, pompous, inconsiderate, dickish-”

“Merlin! The bloody pig is WALKING!” Arthur shouted, and Merlin whipped his head around to see that the pig, formerly lifeless, had picked itself up, and was attempting to trot around the classroom. 

Students' screams started to fill the air as the small pigs began breaking out of their styrofoam prisons, and limp around the classroom, their undeveloped muscles barely carrying their weight. Their teacher jumped up on his desk, some girl fainted in the back, and Merlin definitely saw more than one student piss themself. One kid, Arthur’s friend Percy, was trying to hold onto his pig by the waste, but dropped it with a scream. When he held up his hands, the palms looked like they were burned, and were tinted this awful shade of green. 

“What do we do?” Arthur asked.

“How the fuck should I know?” Merlin shouted back. 

He searched desperately around the classroom, for some kind of bin or net to trap the pigs in, or maybe a fire extinguisher. The students started to cower in the back, but Merlin watched as the pigs started to form a sort of demented procession, out of the classroom and into the hall. Just as the zombie pigs began streaming out the door, Steven bounded into the classroom, hopping on top of them, before and leaping straight onto Merlin’s shoulder. 

“What. The. Fuck,” Arthur said. 

Merlin shook his head, but when Steven leaned over and bit his ear, Merlin suddenly felt a wave of power surge through him. Emboldened, Merlin ran out of the classroom, though he heard Arthur hot on his heels. 

“Shit, I have to shake him,” Merlin thought as he chased down the pig parade. 

Magic wasn't illegal per se. Just highly scrutinized and regulated. Magic users were considered an anomaly, and based on the public’s general revulsion to the occult, it was better to stay hidden. And something told Merlin that Uther wasn’t above expelling a wizard, especially after two magical attacks in as many days. 

Almost reading his mind, Steven jumped off his shoulder and stood in Arthur’s path, hissing angrily. Merlin didn’t have time to see if the diversion worked-- the pig parade was closing in on Uther’s office. As Merlin closed in, one of the pigs turned around and grunted at him, some sort of acid flying out of its mouth. Merlin dodged. 

“Shit, shit,” Merlin said to himself. 

He didn’t have time to crack open that giant book Gaius had given him, and who even knew if there was a spell for something like this? How did you un-necromance something? While Merlin was thinking, the pigs reached Uther’s office, and began throwing themselves against his door. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Uther’s voice boomed from behind the door, but as soon as the man opened it, he immediately shut it again. 

“Just hold on headmaster! I’m going for help!” Merlin called uselessly.

Maybe that freaky blonde lady was around. Merlin had a feeling she had something to do with it. Merlin tore off down the hallway, back to where Steven was holding Arthur hostage by the lockers. 

“Come on!” Merlin cried as he ran for the front door. Steven broke formation and chased after him. 

“Huh, so now you listen,” Merlin snapped. 

Outside the grounds, Merlin spotted the woman again, this time in some sort of deep trance. Merlin came up short before her, at a loss what to do. He couldn’t just attack her, could he? Steven made that choice for him, charging straight at the woman’s face. Merlin felt his magic slide through the cat, involuntarily strengthening his attack. 

“Bastard!” she shrieked, throwing the animal to the ground as she scrambled to her feet. 

Merlin ran up to Steven, taking him up in his arms, but the cat seemed unharmed, and kept trying to struggle out of Merlin’s arms back at the woman. The woman raised up her hands and began muttering at Merlin, but she paused when she spotted something behind him. 

“Morgause?” Arthur said confusedly. 

Instead of answering, the woman turned and ran, back to that silver van. Merlin tried to chase after her, but Arthur grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t, she’s a fucking magic user. She’ll probably kill you,” Arthur said seriously. 

Merlin nodded, and tried to tamp down the part of him that hurt at Arthur’s words. Back inside, Merlin found that all the pigs were once again, useless hunks of leather. Uther was so freaked out that he dismissed school for the rest of the day, so Merlin found himself walking home, a fussy Steven in his arms. 

When he got back to the house, Gaius was still out working at his boutique pharmacy, leaving Merlin alone to stew on the days events. He really needed his Uncle’s help-- why was he in Camelot if not to seek out his sage wisdom? If Arthur hadn’t showed up, that witch would have had him for sure. Merlin put his head in his hands. Trouble just seemed to follow wherever he went. 

A sharp pain pierced his left wrist, and when he looked up Steven was biting deeply on his hand, even drawing blood. Merlin tried to shake him off, and after a few minutes, the cat let go and started to lick over the puncture. Merlin pulled his hand back from the rough tongue, but when he went to inspect the wound, it was completely healed.

“What the fuck.” 

“Hello Merlin,” Steven said, though his mouth didn’t move, “It’s time we became properly acquainted.”

“What the fuck!”


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin was crazy. That was the only explanation for the last few days. Hell, the only explanation for his whole miserable little life. Because the cat was talking. And talking to Merlin, of all people. 

“Call me Killgarah,” the cat said, somehow beaming it’s thoughts into Merlin’s head. 

“I had to establish a blood connection in order to properly communicate with you,” Killgarah said. 

“Ok, that makes sense,” Merlin heard himself say, even though his internal monologue kept screaming, “shit shit shitty shit!”

“You are an imbecile,” the cat said.

“That also makes sense,” Merlin said. 

Anatomically the cat was incapable of rolling his eyes, but the slow blink expressed the same, as Merlin heard its deep sigh in his head as it jumped up to the window sill to better make eye contact with Merlin. 

“Um, why are you here?” Merlin asked.

“You summoned me,” Killi said, like it was obvious. 

“What-?”

“Merlin, who are you talking to?” Gaius asked as he let himself into Merlin’s room.

Gaius stopped in his tracks, staring at Killi, and then at Merlin, and then the still bleeding wound on Merlin’s hand. 

“Merlin, did you summon a demon?” Gaius asked.

“No! Well, maybe. Apparently so. Yes. Sorry,” Merlin said. 

Gaius sunk to the floor, and buried his head in his hands. 

“Your mother is going to kill me,” he moaned into his palms. 

“Can’t I, unsummon you? Somehow?” Merlin pleaded.

“I am your animal familiar. So no. I am bound to your soul,” Killi replied drily. 

“Apparently you don’t sound too happy about it,” Merlin grumbled. 

“Apparently even idiots can possess vast depths of natural power,” Killi said, looking wistfully out the window, as if hoping a competent sorcerer would come fetch him. 

“Your magic drew me in from my home realm and into yours. Now I am bound to you and must do your bidding,” the cat sighed.

“But I haven’t got any bidding,” Merlin whined.

“Merlin, please don’t give the demon your bidding,” Gaius scolded.

“I don’t have any bidding!” 

“Ah, but you do have an enemy,” Kilgarah said, and Merlin swore the cat smirked.

“Who? That crazy blonde woman?” Merlin asked.

“What crazy blonde woman?” Gaius asked.  
“Um, the one that’s attacked Pendragon academy twice in the past two weeks?” Merlin squeaked out. 

Gaius shoved his head back in his hands, “Your mother is going to kill me.”

“I can fix this. I can fix this. How do I get rid of her?” Merlin asked.

Killi rolled his eyes.

“I am not omniscient. I haven’t the faintest idea as to why she would want to attack you, but it seems as if one Arthur Pendragon is familiar with the sorceress,” Killi said. 

“Don’t make me talk to that asshole,” Merlin grumbled.

“Who? And watch your language,” Gaius scolded.

“The demon cat says I gotta talk to Arthur to find the magic evil lady,” Merlin groaned. 

“Merlin, you are not to track down that woman, you have no practical magic experience,” Gaius sternly. 

“Well then someone better teach me something, because she’s not going away any time soon!”

Gaius humphed, and spent the rest of the evening teaching Merlin some basic defensive spells as Killi looked on impassively. 

“Can’t you teach me how to hit back?” Merlin asked, as he made a shield of light for the third time in a row.

“We’re not practicing any offense near the house, as I’d like to continue living here,” Gaius said, tossing another rock at Merlin, which his shield easily deflected. 

“I’m never gonna beat her this way,” Merlin groaned.

“We don’t even know who she is!” Gaius shot back.

Which is how Merlin found himself sidling up to Arthur before biology, ignoring the weird looks his football friends sent him as they fell into step outside the cafeteria. He had to find out what the boy knew about this Morgause character. 

“Hey, that was so crazy yesterday,” Merlin started. 

“Yeah,” Arthur said, though he lacked the same kind of bravado he had the day before. 

“Glad your dad was ok,” Merlin ventured.

“Yeah,” Arthur said quietly, before sitting down at their lab bench. 

Merlin stared at him, but he didn’t make eye contact, and so Merlin just flopped down next to him, unsure of how to talk to the other boy if they weren’t actively arguing. There was a slump to his shoulders, and he was staring forward as if pretending Merlin wasn’t there would make him disappear. 

“So do you have any big matches coming up?” Merlin tried.

This time Arthur rolled his eyes.

“Can’t you tell when someone doesn’t want to speak to you? Or are those big ears not attached to a brain?” 

There, something Merlin can work with.

“Ah, I wasn’t sure if you were able to form sentences beyond a single syllable. Too many footballs to the head?” 

“You-” 

Whatever insult Arthur was preparing to hurl gets cut off when their teacher slams a book on the desk, quieting the room. 

“Class. Following yesterday’s incident, new schoolwide regulations have forbidden animal carcasses of any kind on campus. And so to make up for the dissection unit, you and your lab partners will be given a research project on anatomy. Presentations are next week.”

Arthur sunk lower in his seat as the teacher moved on, and as Merlin studied his face, he got a good look at the dark circles under his eyes. Part of Merlin felt bad for winding him up just now. If he were honest with himself, he hated seeing Arthur look so defeated. Gwen had told him things at home hadn’t been good, maybe the attack yesterday made everything worse somehow. 

The period ended, and Arthur shot up out of his seat, trying to get away from class as soon as possible. 

“Arthur, wait!” Merlin charged after him. 

“What?” Arthur snapped, turning on his heels.   
“Um, we need to, um, figure out when we can work on this project,” Merlin said. 

“Oh. Uh, come by my place on Saturday. Give me your phone,” Arthur said, and Merlin reluctantly handed over his beat up phone to Arthur, who quickly put his number in before practically sprinting in the direction of the locker room. 

Merlin stares after him, though quickly realizes he’s string at Arthur’s retreating ass, and about faces before anyone could notice. 

That Saturday, Merlin found himself staring at the imposing double doors of the Pendragon estate. Merlin felt scruffy, still wearing modified clothes from Gaius’ closet, and made a mental note that he should ask Gwen if he knew any fun shops where they could go. Not that Merlin felt like he had to look nice for Arthur of all people, he could give less of a shit what Arthur thought. And even if he did care what Arthur thought it wasn’t as if he would change his behavior. They weren’t even friends! Arthur was the last person he should change clothes for, and who knew what Arthur even liked-- 

Arthur jerked open the front door, cutting off Merlin’s internal ramblings. He was wearing fitted track bottoms and some band T-Shirt, and Merlin found himself fixated on his collarbone.

“Are you just gonna stand there?” Arthur asked. 

“Oh, erm, coming,” Merlin followed Arthur, shutting the large oak door behind him. Arthur lead Merlin up a grand staircase, and to the left. 

“This your wing of the house?” Merlin asked, putting on a posh accent. 

“Yes. Father keeps to the other side, so he shouldn’t disturb us,” Arthur said without a hint of irony. 

“Hmm,” Merlin said, following Arthur to his massive room. 

Asshole had a television and a four poster bed and a mother fucking couch all in his room. Merlin half expected to see a servant waiting in the corner. Arthur settled himself on the couch, taking out his laptop to start their project while Merlin took a turn about the room. 

“Are you hiding your butler around here somewhere?” Merlin asked, making a show of looking underneath Arthur’s bed. 

“Get away from there!” Arthur snapped.

“Why, what are you hiding?” Merlin asked, though he did spy a small shoebox in the corner. 

“Merlin-” Arthur said, but Merlin was already grabbing for the box. 

“Mysterious box under the bed! Sex toys or drugs?” Merlin asked, while opening the box.

“Drugs! Score!”

“Put that back Merlin,” Arthur griped.

“Ok. I don’t like you, you don’t like me, and we have a project on anatomy to finish. I think this would go a lot faster if we managed to put ourselves in an agreeable state, don’t you?” Merlin asked, holding up Arthur’s weed.

Merlin watched as the gears in Arthur’s head turned, his expression morphing from outrage to contemplation to acceptance.

“Fine, but I’m rolling it. I’m sure you’d fuck it up,” Arthur said, pushing Merlin aside.

“Make yourself useful and plug up the door. Uther’s out of town, but I wouldn’t put it past the housekeeper to snitch on me,” Arthur said, and Merlin scampered off to do just that. 

Thirty minutes later, Merlin was stretched out on Arthur’s rug, giggling at something Arthur had said, but he couldn’t remember what it was that was so funny. 

“You have a nice laugh,” Arthur said.

Merlin craned his neck to look up at where Arthur was sprawled out on the couch, hogging it to himself. 

“I do not,” Merlin said with a snort.

“Yeah you do, it’s cute,” Arthur said quietly. 

Merlin felt his face grow red. He didn’t know how to deal with Arthur being nice to him. 

“Shut up,” Merlin said, but there wasn’t any heat behind the words.

Arthur peered down at Merlin, and before he knew it, Arthur had rolled off the couch and was lying next to him on the rug, their bodies parallel but not quite touching. Arthur turned his head, and his nose was an inch from Merlin’s.

“Sorry I’ve been such a dick. It’s been a bad year,” Arthur grumbled. 

“Yeah, I heard about the Pendragon Civil War,” Merlin said, but regretted his words when he saw Arthur’s face darken.

“Gwen told you then?”

“No details, and I don’t want to know, I mean, I want to know, but you don’t have to tell me-” Merlin stammered.

Arthur ran his hands over his face, before gearing himself to speak. 

“My sister, Morgana, she was always the one who stood up to Uther. And then last year she meets this insane woman, Morgause, who tells her she’s her half sister and that her mother isn’t who she thinks. And around the same time weird shit kept happening around the house. Like the bathrooms kept flooding, curtains on fire, weird animal shit,” Arthur said.

Merlin felt his stomach drop. So Morgana was a magic user too. Complicated. 

“And then she got this stupid cat, it followed her fucking everywhere, and that’s when Uther tried to like, I don’t even wanna talk about this part,” Arthur trailed off.

Arthur’s fists were clenched against his chest, and Merlin suddenly couldn’t bear to see him struggle anymore, and reached out and put his hands over Arthur’s.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Merlin cut him off, thumbing his fingers carefully over Arthur’s knuckles, “Let’s talk about anatomy. It’s why we’re here, right?”

Arthur nodded, but Merlin watched as Arthur’s eyes slid down to his mouth, and suddenly Arthur was on top of him, his mouth hot on his.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sexual Content: Frottage**

Merlin’s eyes went wide, and Arthur pulled back, though his warm weight still pressed into Merlin’s abdomen.

“Shit, shit, I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that, shit, I’m sorry,” Arthur stuttered out.

Too stoned to be graceful, Arthur tried to maneuver away off of Merlin, when Merlin caught the back of Arthur’s head, and awkwardly craned his neck up to meet Arthur’s mouth again.

It took them an awkward few minutes to make sense of each other, to figure out how best to move, but then Arthur’s tongue was poking against the seam of Merlin’s mouth, first too hard, and then too hesitant, and Merlin felt himself open up, a moan rising up from somewhere in his chest. Merlin fit his hands behind Arthur’s back, feeling the strong cords of muscle that lined his shoulder blades. Fuck Merlin wanted to take Arthur’s shirt off.

“Let’s see what all those hours of football practice are for,” Merlin whispered, in what he prayed was a sexy voice.

Arthur huffed, before leaning up to pull his shirt over his head, before leaning back down to kiss at Merlin’s lips again. Merlin let his fingers run down Arthur’s back, and feeling bold, let his fingers trace the top edge of Arthur’s jeans, before moving towards his ass. Arthur, paused in some awkward combination of a plank and a pushup, shuddered, and ground down. Merlin felt Arthur’s half-hard cock graze his own and let out a gasp.

“Fuck, is this ok?” Arthur asked, drawing back.

“Yes, yes,” Merlin bit out, trying to chase more of that friction, “I just, I haven’t done this, done anything, before.”

“I’ve never, with a guy,” Arthur offered up.

Merlin nodded, hoping that the heat on his face gave him an attractive flush, and didn’t make him look like a 65 year old having a heart attack, which was how he felt.

Arthur leaned back down, but instead of meeting Merlin’s mouth, he went for the dip between Merlin’s neck and mouthed aimlessly, distracting Merlin for a moment before he thrust down again. Even through their jeans Merlin felt shockwaves run through his stomach.

“You smell so good,” Arthur murmured, kissing along Merlin’s jaw.

Merlin giggled. This wasn’t real. Arthur Pendragon thought he smelled good. Arthur Pendragon was skimming Merlin's fly, looking up at him with large eyes for permission, and after Merlin’s nod, Arthur Pendragon was tugging Merlin’s jeans down. Gravity was no help at all, and Arthur only got Merlin’s jeans around his thighs before growing impatient and tugging down his own pants. And Merlin felt as if Arthur had gone far too long without kissing him, but then Arthur was back, bringing their crotches together. Merlin felt a wetspot form on his boxers, but he was too nervous to reach between them, afraid if he had any direct contact with Arthur’s dick he’d come on the spot. Merlin was painfully hard, but he could feel Arthur’s length was equally needy. Arthur’s thrusts, which had managed to fit into a janky rhythm, fell off beat again, and Merlin watched Arthur’s face scrunch up as he came in his underwear. Merlin felt the warm rush between them, and felt lightning rush through him, tipping over the edge.

Arthur rolled off of him, and when he looked over at the other boy, they both broke out into giggles.

“We should, can you, um,” Arthur started, rubbing his hand over his face.

“What?” Merlin said, his mind far away.

“Just, don’t tell anybody about this,” Arthur said quickly.

“Oh. Yeah. Of course. As if I want anyone to know I made it with a dickhead like you,” Merlin replied, though he felt his stomach sink.

After a few beats, Arthur got up, kicking off his jeans and ambling away as Merlin stared up at the ceiling, suddenly feeling sticky, cold, and sober. Merlin jumped when he felt a cold cloth running up his legs.

“Shit sorry, should have warmed it up,” Arthur said, now dressed in sweatpants.

“I can clean myself up,” Merlin snapped, sitting up.

“Oh yeah, of course. You can use the en suite,” Arthur said, pointing at a door Merlin hadn’t seen before.

Merlin got up, and meekly accepted the briefs Arthur held out, though the other boy’s eyes were glued to the floor.

Of course the mother fucker had an ensuite. Merlin shimmied out of his ruined underwear and changed, though he was left holding the evidence of what they’d done in his hand. Merlin splashed water on his face, and pulled on his jeans. This was fine. Everything was fine.

The next two hours were pure torture. Merlin must have behaved terribly in a past life to earn this, sitting next to an intensely quiet Arthur as Merlin coaxed him into finishing their project on anatomy. He should just take the F. Maybe then he’d get expelled and never have to see Arthur, or any crazy blonde witches, again. Yeah, he’ll get expelled, and then he’ll move to the bottom of the ocean, where he’ll never be reminded of how Arthur sounds when he comes, or have to take a math test again.

By the time Merlin got home, with a barely coherent presentation on the lymphatic system and four new ulcers, Killi was waiting for him at the door. Merlin had forbade him from coming to Arthur’s with him, and the little furball listened to him for once.

“What did you discover at the Pendragon Manor?” Killi asked, jumping up on Merlin’s shoulder.

Merlin suddenly felt flush, could the cat read his mind? He wandered into the kitchen where Gaius was finishing up dinner, hoping to save time by debriefing them both at the same time.

“I uh, found out more about Morgause,” Merlin stuttered.

“Before or after you fornicated with Arthur?” Killi asked drily.

Merlin felt his face go beet red, and thanked whatever infernal gods that Gaius couldn’t hear Killi.

“She’s apparently Morgana’s half sister. And Morgana had magic, though maybe they didn’t realize it until it was too late, and Uther did something awful to her, and then sent her away,” Merlin finished.

“Hmm, so do you think the attacks on the school are some kind of revenge plot?” Gaius mused.

“That’d make sense. Morgause getting revenge for her little sis. But I don’t know the full story,” Merlin muttered.

“I’ll do reconnaissance on Morgause and Morgana,” Killi said, trotting away.

Good riddance.

“Well, best get a good night's sleep,” Merlin stretched up.

“It’s 7:30,” Gaius said.

“Well, we have a lot of studying to do tomorrow, school’s to save, etc,” Merlin said, retreating upstairs.

Merlin threw himself in bed, and if he touched himself after he remembered he was still wearing Arthur’s underwear, well, that was his own business.


	7. Chapter 7

Merlin didn’t know how much more he could take. It’d been three weeks since he and Arthur first hooked up, and for the past three weeks, Arthur had dragged him into broom closets, locked them in empty classrooms, accosted him next to his stupid expensive car in an empty parking lot, and any other place he could get his hands on him. 

“Shh, quiet Merlin,” Arthur admonished, before biting into Merlin’s shoulder.   
Which of course, made Merlin gasp again, as Arthur was concurrently working his sweaty palms over Merlin’s cock. Arthur took his free hand and covered Merlin’s mouth. They were, after all, horizontal under the bleachers, not more than a few feet from where the track team was finishing up their practice. Merlin licked Arthur’s palm, but the asshole wouldn’t let go. It was just as well, Merlin gave himself to the sensation of Arthur’s weight over him, his hot breath in his ear, and soon he was spilling into Arthur’s palm. Arthur let go of Merlin’s mouth then and Merlin let out a gasp, panting dramatically.

“Oh calm down,” Arthur rolled his eyes, but Merlin could see the redness in his face.

“Did you-?” Merlin asked, and then saw the dark stain on Arthur’s shorts.

“Oh fuck off,” Arthur said.

“You fucking exhibitionist. I didn’t even touch you,” Merlin laughed. 

“Shut up, Merlin,” Arthur said. 

Merlin watched as Arthur tried to look dignified as he crawled out from under the bleachers, before flopping back and watching the sun flit through the top of the metal structure as his release dried on his chest. The grass started to get itchy, and Merlin dragged his shirt back on, after groping the spot where Arthur had so casually thrown it. Merlin crawled out from the bleachers, hoping desperately that none of the track kids happened to look to their left as they stretched. As Merlin made his way to the bus stop, he spied Arthur sitting in his car, alone. 

At home, sitting on the kitchen table licking himself, is Killi, covered in blood. 

“What the fuck,” Merlin said, too shocked to scream.

“I found Morgause’s familiar. Unfortunately, I was unable to discern any more of her plans before I dispatched him. However, she should be significantly weaker until she’s able to call another familiar from the nether realm.”

“Whoa whoa, you killed somebody?” Merlin sunk into a seat at the kitchen table, eyes tracking the blood paw prints all over the house. 

“No. I destroyed the familiar’s mundane vessel, which tethered it to this realm. A familiar cannot kill another familiar, though had you been with me as I asked, perhaps we would have been able to destroy it entirely.”

“Don’t use that tone. I told you I had trigonometry! And if I missed again I’d flunk,” Merlin snapped.

By now, kids at school were starting to notice the black cat that was following Merlin around. Somehow, Gwen and Freya managed to accept it was an emotional support cat. (Truthfully, Gwen was happy to have a halfway decent friend, even if he was crazy, and Freya just didn’t care that much). Thankfully, none of his teachers had reported him to Uther. He got the sense that Uther wouldn’t take kindly to any more strange animals hanging around his campus. 

“And if you are going to continue to waste precious time fornicating with the Pendragon boy, you could at least glean some more information from him.”

Merlin’s face went red, and he sputtered a defense, but the cat hopped off and trotted up the stairs. 

“Don’t you dare sit on my sheets!” 

Merlin made three mistakes the next day. Mistake number one, was walking by the locker rooms by himself. Gwen tutored elementary school kids on Thursdays because she was a saint, and Freya had ditched him to go smoke with Gwaine. Suddenly, Merlin was yanked into the double doors, and found himself pressed up against one of the cold metal lockers, a hot mouth against his jaw. 

“Shit,” Merlin gasped. 

He’d developed an almost Pavlovian response to Arthur’s deodorant-- it wasn’t even pleasant, some loud thing teenage boys thought was appealing, but it now smelled like heaven to Merlin. He ground himself forward, as Arthur’s reckless hands worked their way under his shirt. 

Mistake number two wasn’t leaving the locker room when they heard footsteps. 

“Let’s hide in the showers,” Arthur whispered, tugging Merlin along. 

“We should just leave,” Merlin whispered back. 

Arthur just rolled his eyes, and tugged more forcefully, until Merlin followed him into the shower stall. 

“They could easily see our two legs,” Merlin hissed, even though his dick wanted to get back in the action. 

“We’ll be careful,” Arthur murmured, before shucking his own shirt. 

“I swear, you want to get caught or something,” Merlin said. 

Arthur leveled a glare at him, before sealing his mouth against his again. Against his better judgement, Merlin found himself getting into the kiss, because when he was with Arthur everything else seemed to fall away. Arthur pushed him further back into the stall, and Merlin felt his shoulder blade knock against the nozzle. 

“Shit!” Merlin shouted.

“Is someone there?” Uther’s voice echoed through the lockers. 

Arthur’s eyes widened, and he slapped a hand over Merlin’s mouth, though his other hand didn’t stop trying to undo the button on his pants. 

“Arthur? Practice finished at 4:00 on the dot. It is now 4:27, do not keep me waiting.”

“Tell me to stop,” Arthur whispered in his ear as he moved his hand away. 

Merlin shouldn’t be into this. He shouldn’t. But Arthur got a firm grip on his leaking cockhead and was gently biting his ear, even though last week he likened them to Dumbo’s, and feeling Arthur’s weight against him and his stupid boy deoderant was in his ear. Arthur sank to his knees, wrapped his plush lips around Merlin’s need, and sucked. Arthur didn’t even have time to take Merlin further into his mouth before Merlin spilled. Arthur caught most of it in his hand, but Merlin could make out little flecks of white in his hair. 

“Shit,” Merlin hissed, looking at the mess between them. 

“Arthur? If you’re here, I’m leaving. Do not be late for our dinner reservations. You can take a taxi.”

The locker room doors slammed shut, and Arthur grinned up at Merlin, though even in afterglow Merlin could see the cracks in the smile. 

“That was a close one,” he said. 

“What the fuck.”

“Merlin-”

“What the fuck? Did you want to get caught?” 

Arthur looked down, letting out a choked little laugh. 

“Well I was thinking about what you said yesterday, and I figured, well, it’s stupid, it’s stupid now,” Arthur said, his smile fading into something darker.

“What is it?” Merlin said, gently grabbing Arthur’s hand. 

The moment would have been sweet, if Merlin didn’t still have his cock out, and there wasn’t cum drying on Arthur’s hand. 

“I just figured, this whole gay thing would be easier if I just, you know, got caught. One big thing and then it’s over, and if my father is going to send me away like Morganna, he’ll do it and just be done with it,” Arthur said. 

“Oh Arthur,” Merlin said, “That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

Arthur whipped his head back up, sputtering. 

“Why the fuck would getting caught with your pants down make the “I’m gay” talk better, Arthur?”

“Well the idea is that there wouldn’t be much talking-”

“Is that all you wanted from me? A gay scapegoat? The weird kid from the country made you suck him off?” Merlin felt his voice rising. 

“Merlin-”

“No, you listen to me. I like what we’ve been doing, but I don’t want you to use me as something to, I don’t know, piss off your dad, blow up your life.”

“Merlin-”

“AND another thing, you don’t get to hook up with me under the bleachers and then walk past me in the cafeteria. Not that I want to talk to you anyway, you probably don’t have anything interesting to say outside of football statistics and other rich prat nonsense-”

Arthur covered Merlin’s mouth. Merlin was about to peel it off, and add constant hand-to-mouth assault to his list of grievances, but he finally saw the panic in Arthur’s face.

“Merlin, I’m a massive asshole, yes, but do you hear that?” 

An ethereal hum had filled the locker room, under which Merlin could make out the distinct click of heels on tile. 

“Merlin, I know you’re in here,” a sing song voice rang out, “Come out, and you me and little Arthur can have a chat.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Shit,” Merlin mumbled. 

“Shit,” Arthur said, “Morgana?”

Arthur pulled the curtain aside, revealing a pretty, yet gaunt teenager smiling lazily back at him. 

“Hello Arthur,” Morgana said, but her eyes were trained on Merlin. 

“Merlin, please stand back,” Arthur warned, putting a protective hand in front of Merlin’s chest. 

“Oh, no need for that. We can all be friends here,” Morgana purred, “So long as you do as I ask.”

Merlin studied the girl in front of him. She looked put together enough— like any other Pendragon academy student, but the dark circles under her eyes gave her an almost feral aura. 

“Is this the part where you lay out your evil master plan?” Merlin asked. 

“Evil,” Morgana laughed, “What’s evil, secretly fathering a child and forcing your ill wife to look after her?”

“Leave my mother out of this,” Arthur said, though Merlin could see his face start to crack.

Merlin felt his fingers twitch. It was only a matter of time before Morganna outed him as a magic user. And he couldn’t attack first, Arthur would never forgive him, despite whatever tension there was between them, Morganna was still his sister. Even if Killi was right and Merlin did indeed havd the magical intuition of a particularly stupid rock, even he could feel the power radiating off Morganna. 

“Arthur, do you know what happened to my mother? Do you know what that man did to her?” Morgana asked the ceiling, her voice rising a half octave. 

“I, I don’t know anything. Morg, please, what are you planning? Are you behind all the weird shit that’s been happening?” Arthur pleaded. 

Morganna snapped her head towards them again, almost as if she forgot they were there. She raised one hand, and with a lazy flick, Merlin felt himself forced to his knees alongside Arthur. 

“After I was born, our dear father figured out that the young teacher he had just seduced had magic,” Morganna said.  
“And of course, being the wise and powerful despot that he is, all he had to do was convince a doctor that my mother was delusional and a danger to herself. She spent the end of her life locked away in an institution, alone, after being told I was stillborn.”

Morganna paused, and Merlin could hear the water dripping from a leaky shower. He could hear Arthur’s heavy breathing next to him. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears. 

“That’s awful-” Merlin tried, before Morganna silenced him with a glare.

“After Uther sent me away, I did some thinking. Where oh where does his power to manipulate and destroy people come from?” Morganna paced around the room, before opening her hands with a flourish.

“It’s this place, where future Prime Ministers and ambassadors and World Bankers incubate. This fucking place. And I’m going to tear it down.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill the guy?” Merlin offered.

“Merlin,” Arthur hissed.

“Sorry, it’s true!”

“Unhelpful!”

“What are you gonna do, just blow campus up? There are still students here, teachers, custodians! Don’t make them part of your petty revenge scheme,” Merlin said. 

“Petty? Arthur, should I show him what our father did to me?” Morganna said.

Arthur looked down, his head hung in shame. 

“Morg, I am so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I will never forgive myself,” Arthur whispered. 

“Quiet,” Morganna said, and with another flick of her hand, Merlin watched Arthur’s eyes grow wide, as he clawed at his mouth, words not coming out. 

Morganna settled on her knees, an inch from Merlin’s face, and lifted up her hair, revealing a long jagged scar circling the nape of her neck. Merlin could smell a rotten stench rolling off her. 

“Uther, in his endless wisdom, heard from one of the prestigious graduates of this school, who went on to be chief of surgery at Camelot General, that magic is stored in the medulla, where all the automatic functions of the body are controlled. According to the quack, as magic is something inherent to my biology, it must be aligned with the part of my brain that controls whether I can take a breath or if my heart continues to beat. He let that man cut me open, almost kill me, to try and snuff out what makes me, what makes you, more powerful than all these scared, weak, people around us.” 

Merlin glanced at Arthur, whose eyes became wide with understanding. 

“He knows,” Merlin thought. 

Merlin stared at the scar, ugly and stark against Morganna’s gaunt skin, and felt a sympathetic pain wrap around his own neck. From close up, Merlin could see a slimy green tendril snaking up from her shirt collar. 

“Your beef is with Uther. Destroy the school after hours, no one gets hurt,” Merlin begged, his voice cracking. 

Morganna rose from her knees, towering over Merlin. Merlin felt his magic strain against hers, but something in the atmosphere was dampening his powers. 

“I don’t want to kill anybody-” Morganna said, a perturbed look crossing her face.

Merlin let out a shaky breath. Morganna shook her head, as if waking up from a dream. 

“Though if some get caught in the crossfire, that’s just more blood on Uther’s hands,” Morganna finished in a rush. 

Merlin felt a rumbling under his knees, and heard the building begin to groan. 

“Well, it was fun distracting you,” Morganna said, though her voice took on a monotone quality. 

She moved slowly out of the room, as if she had forgotten how to walk, though as Merlin felt her magic’s grip on him loosen, a cold presence slithered across his shoulders. Merlin barely managed to turn his head, where a giant snake was beginning to wrap itself around his shoulders. 

“Oh, Aithusa will keep you company,” Morganna said in monotone staring straight out the locker room doors. 

As soon as she left the room, Merlin felt his body released from her grasp, though the snake’s muscular body began squeezing around him. As its head made it’s way to Arthur, the stunned boy managed to scrabble to his feet. 

“Merlin, do something,” Arthur choked out.

“What am I supposed to do?” Merlin said, though the pain in his chest was beginning to make it hard to breathe.

“Use magic you idiot,” Arthur said.

“I, I can’t,” Merlin bit out.

“Morganna just said you can, don’t lie!” Arthur said, his voice rising as the snake grew closer to him.

“Something’s wrong, I can’t access my powers, I can’t-” Merlin began to see spots, and Arthur suddenly seemed very far away. 

Merlin didn’t feel himself collapse, but when he came to there was a very dead snake head next to his face, and a sweaty Arthur holding a dumbbell that had seen better days. 

“Thank you,” Merlin rasped out. 

“Why can’t you use magic?” Arthur asked. 

Merlin struggled to his feet, just as a black furball bound into the room. 

“Killi, thank god, Morganna’s taken my powers,” Merlin rasped out. 

“She didn’t take them you idiot,” Killi said, striding past Merlin to one of the showers. Merlin reluctantly followed, and saw another seaweed ball sitting in the corner of the stall. 

“What the fuck is that, and why are you talking to a cat?” Arthur asked, finally dropping the bloodsoaked dumbbell. 

“It’s one of Morgause’s hex charms. It amplifies her powers, and dampens all others,” Killi said, batting at the ball. 

“But Morganna, she controlled our bodies,” Merlin said, hearing another distant rumble across the school. 

“Shit, Merlin we have to get everyone out of here!” Arthur. 

“Morganna isn’t in charge here,” Killi said, “Morgause has somehow managed to tap into her magic too.”

“Shit.”  
“What’d the cat say?” Arthur asked.

“Your sister is her sister’s evil little puppet,” Merlin said, watching Killi bat the ball towards Merlin.

Merlin reached down to touch the pulsing mass, and felt his magic rebound, and a blast of heat coming out of his fingertips and disintegrating the seaweed ball in a puff green of smoke. A wave of energy surged back into him. Merlin looked back at Arthur, though where he expected fear, he just saw awe. 

“Merlin, your eyes,” Arthur said, voice quiet. 

“If you would stop gawking at each other, we have a school to save,” Killi said, bounding out of the room. 

Merlin broke Arthur’s gaze, and ran out into the hallway, where giant cracks were forming in the tile. 

“Arthur, you work on getting everyone out of the school, I’ll get rid of Morgause’s hex traps,” Merlin shouted behind him. 

Merlin followed the dark energy radiating through the school, blasting random seaweed balls placed in hall corners, on top of lockers, plastered onto the fucking walls. Merlin followed the trail of sludge to the cafeteria, where he found Morgause perched on a table over a massive glowing vat. 

“You again,” she sneered. 

“Me, again,” Merlin shrugged, and then flung Morgause across the room. 

She hit the kitchen grate with a thud, the metal reverberating. Merlin rushed forward to try to reach her poison concoction, the stench growing worse with every step. 

“Leave this school alone,” Merlin shouted, taking a step towards Morgause’s concoction. 

“Actually, I don’t give a shit about this school, but stop trying to kill people,” Merlin corrected, reaching the cauldron. 

“How do I turn this shit off?” Merlin asked, just as a giant wave of energy emanated from the pot, throwing Merlin back into a stack of chairs, the corrupt magic burning his chest.

Merlin met Morganna’s vacant stare, her hand raised against him. The green tendrils had migrated, up her throat and around her shoulders. She somehow looked even more pallid than before, and her fingers shook as she raised up a pile of tables over Merlin’s head.

“Morganna, stop!” 

Gwen stormed into the cafeteria, Arthur on her heels. 

“Come back, it’s not safe for you,” Arthur pleaded. 

“Gwen?” Morganna said. 

“This isn’t you,” Gwen said, standing directly in Morganna’s path. 

Merlin felt strong hands wrap around his shoulders, hauling him up to his feet. 

“I’ve got you,” Arthur grunted, holding Merlin tight to his chest. 

“I, Gwen,” Morganna stuttered. 

Gwen reached out, and Merlin saw her wince as she touched Morganna’s fingers, which were now wrapped in the sick green tendrils. 

“Morganna, get back here,” Morgause growled, returning to her feet, and stumbling toward the cauldron. 

Morganna went stick straight, and seized Gwen’s wrists.

“You won’t hurt me Morg, I trust you,” Gwen whispered. 

The building shook again, chunks of ceiling coming dangerously close to where Merlin and Arthur remained entwined. 

“She can’t control herself!” Merlin shouted. 

“She’s my best friend,” Gwen said. 

Just then, Killi jumped on Morgause’s back, sending her head first into the vat. She didn’t even have time to scream, and Merlin watched her dissolve into the poison of her own making. Morganna collapsed into Gwen’s arms as more of the ceiling fell apart around them. 

“Help me carry her!” Gwen cried, and Arthur finally let go of Merlin to grab Morganna’s legs. Merlin used his remaining strength to clear their path out of the crumbling school, levitating debris while Killi showed the fastest path out of the building. 

Outside, the four collapsed on the grass, just as the building imploded with a dull thud. Arthur’s hand found Merlin’s, and held it until the EMT’s arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One short chapter left !


	9. Chapter 9

“I send you to that school for two months. TWO MONTHS AND IT’S IN RUBBLE!”

Merlin held the phone away from his ear, though he could still hear Hunith’s shrill yells. 

“Mum-”

“You’re lucky train fare is so expensive or you would be on the first train home! Honestly Merlin, I can’t,” Hunith huffed, and hung up with a sigh. 

“Well, not as bad as I thought it would be,” Merlin said, putting the phone back on the hospital nightstand. 

“At least your Mum cares,” Arthur said, examining his nails. 

Arthur refused to let go of Merlin during their initial check with the EMTs, and the nurses reluctantly allowed them to stay in the same recovery room as they treated them for dust inhalation. The on call doctor had no idea how to treat the chemical-like burns on Merlin’s chest, nor the mysterious green skin infection on Morganna, but after a few hours, they each began to fade, leaving a dull ache. 

“Do you really want Uther here?” Merlin asked. 

“Well, no, he’d probably make everything worse, Merlin what are you doing?”

Merlin crawled out of his bed and into Arthur’s, curling up against his side. Arthur rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around him. Merlin surged up, capturing Arthur’s mouth, which still tasted like sawdust. The kiss was heated, until it was lazy, patient, tender. 

“You know, you’re not so bad when you’re not talking,” Merlin said, pulling back.

“Yeah, I love you too,” Arthur grumbled. 

Merlin settled against Arthur’s shoulder, and felt himself start to drift off to the sound of his breathing. 

“You smell like shit,” Arthur muttered.

“You smell worse,” Merlin sighed. 

Pendragon Academy students finished the year learning in fancy trailers with air conditioning and flat screens on the grounds of their ruined campus, while their parents frantically put in transfer applications to every reputable school in a thousand mile radius. Uther recused himself from his principal position, and, at the advice of its oldest member Gaius, the board liquidated its remaining assets, endowing a fund for magical studies. After the mysterious disappearance of her sister and guardian, Morganna moved in with Gwen’s family. After finishing up the school year, Arthur decided he wanted to have a quiet summer before Uni, renting a summer place in Ealdor.

“You could have just asked to stay with me, Hunith wouldn’t mind,” Merlin said, watching moving trucks load in the last of Arthur’s expensive furniture. 

“Not everything is about you Merlin,” Arthur rolled his eyes, “I simply wanted a country getaway from Camelot, and this happened to have a nice beach community.”

“It rains every other day.”

“You don’t own Ealdor Merlin.”

“You are moving in next door to my house.”

“Happenstance.”

Merlin wanted to complain more, but then realized that meant they would have a house to themselves for a whole summer. Arthur must have seen the realization on Merlin’s face, because he simply smirked and sauntered back towards the house.

“And you can’t bring the stupid cat with you!” he yelled over his shoulder. 

Merlin smiled, and chased Arthur inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick epilogue of sorts! Thanks to everyone following along : ) Thinking of doing a second college series it there's any interest!


End file.
